A special education advocate has filed a federal complaint against Warren County Public Schools on behalf of students and parents alleging the district overly refers students with disabilities to a local mental health facility. 

Student advocate Mary Beth Patton filed the complaint with the Office for Civil Rights in early August and wrote that students with disabilities “make up a disproportionate amount” of the school district’s mental health referrals for crisis and requested further investigation from the federal government. 

Citing records she obtained via open records requests, Patton wrote that 47% of 1,056 school-based mental health crisis referrals in the records involved students with disabilities. She added that students with disabilities make up about 16% of district enrollment. 

“When it comes to kids with disabilities, there are supposed to be considerations for their disability,” Patton told the Kentucky Lantern. “Children are not supposed to be referred for crisis to an institution or a psychiatric unit, when the behaviors that they are engaging in is a manifestation of their disability.” 

School officials may make the referrals in situations where a student needs immediate support from a mental health professional, usually after an assessment.

A few Warren County parents who spoke with the Lantern said their children were given such assessments and they were notified afterward when a referral was made. They also said they felt pressured to take their child to Rivendell Behavioral Hospital, which is in Warren County and provides in-patient services. 

Rob Clayton, the superintendent of Warren County Public Schools, said in a statement that trained school employees “follow established procedures, communicate with the parent or guardian, and work to connect the family with appropriate professional resources” when a student may pose a risk to themselves or others or circumstances have a need for urgent professional mental health assessment. He added that WCPS “does not require families to utilize one particular mental health provider.” 

“School personnel do not diagnose students or make decisions regarding admission to a behavioral health facility; those determinations are made by qualified healthcare professionals,” Clayton said. 

The parents’ perspective

The Kentucky Lantern spoke with several family members who have elementary age children with identified disabilities who have been affected by this practice.

Keaton and Justin Johnson, who have a child in Warren County Schools, told the Lantern their child was given six referrals from the school within a couple of months last school year. They said they were told about assessments after they happened. 

“After his first one, we didn’t know any better. We took him to Rivendell because we thought that that’s what we were supposed to do. He ended up being admitted. He was there for a week,” Keaton said, adding that she spoke to her son on the phone a few minutes each day. 

Another parent, Jessica Sheene, said her child was given an assessment after an incident during school drop-off. She said Rivendell did not admit her child because he didn’t meet the criteria to be admitted and he returned to school the next day. 

“I do feel like my right to be his mom was taken away from me because there was no communication after simply the referral is being made,” Sheene said. “In my head I thought that that meant that, ‘OK, he will need to see his provider and talk with his provider about the incident.’ There was no explanation of how the crisis assessment needed to work. There was no explanation of anything other than he simply needed one. That the referral was being made.”

A fourth parent, Aurora Schrader, said her child has had 11 documented referrals from the school, but she wasn’t told each time what was the incident that escalated to an assessment. She said the process was “very traumatizing.” 

Schrader said school staff should have more training on how to assist students with disabilities. 

“That way, they can succeed in life and they can make it out of the school system and go into the real world. “

Keaton also said it is a “systematic issue” and said she would like teachers to have better information on helping students with disabilities. 

“Just because a child may present with certain behaviors doesn’t automatically make it a mental health thing,” she said. “It’s a special education thing, which is exactly what our case was.” 

A representative for Rivendell did not return a phone call seeking comment. 

Clayton said the school district has not been notified by the Office for Civil Rights about the complaint, but would cooperate with the review process and provide information if an inquiry is received. 

“The safety and well-being of our students will always remain our top priority. When a student is experiencing a potential mental health crisis, our staff work with the student and family based on the individual circumstances presented,” he said. “Decisions are not made simply because a student has a disability, nor does the district have a practice of referring students with disabilities to mental health facilities because of their disability.”

Privacy laws prevented Clayton from discussing particular cases involving students and confidential education and health information. 

“Because these situations involve individual students, confidential educational records and often sensitive health and disability information, federal and state privacy laws significantly limit what we can discuss regarding particular cases,” he said. “What I can say is that I strongly disagree with any characterization suggesting that WCPS routinely or indiscriminately sends students with disabilities to behavioral health facilities. Our staff members routinely work through difficult and complex circumstances with families while attempting to protect the safety, dignity and educational needs of every student.”

Warren County Public Schools regularly “evaluates its practices, works with families and community partners, and collaborates with the Kentucky Department of Education and other agencies to ensure we are serving students appropriately,” he added. 

Patton previously aided other families in filing IDEA State Complaints with KDE, she said. Those investigations typically review if a school district has violated the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Patton wrote in her federal complaint that while KDE found that there were no IDEA violations regarding certain issues raised in the complaints, “those proceedings did not determine whether the district’s overall practices constitute disability discrimination under” Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Patton said she’s received a letter of acknowledgment from the Office of Civil Rights after submitting the complaint. 

Jennifer Ginn, a spokesperson for KDE, said the department “does not have a policy regarding mental health referrals, as these are local decisions,” and it does have resources on school-based mental health listed online. 

“If a student’s mental health concern rises to the level of needing a threat assessment, KRS 158.4412(2)(b) outlines expectations for the district’s school safety coordinator,” Ginn said. “Districts are encouraged to create mental health referral pathways through their multi-tiered systems of support, but these are local determinations based on the resources available and the willingness of mental health providers to partner with them.” 

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Linda Blackford for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.